John Debney has been giving minor Iron Man 2 updates via Twitter, but now he speaks to Metal Insider, with interviewer, Zach Shaw. Check it out
A few weeks ago, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello confirmed that he was contributing your score for Iron Man 2. Could you give us a little more insight as to his involvement with this project? How has your experience working with Morello been?
"Having been a fan of Tom’s for quite awhile, I was thrilled when our director Jon Favreau asked me if I’d consider having Tom play on the soundtrack. My answer was a very enthusiastic “yes” and was thrilled with what Tom brought to the score. Tom and I worked closely together as Tom added his unique guitar sound to the score. I would write the pieces and then Tom and I would work on guitar parts. I’m thrilled with the outcome as Tom’s personality shines through."
You wrote over 120 minutes of music for Iron Man 2. What can we expect to hear from the movie’s score? Could there possibly be a darker tone to it, or will it retain a similar upbeat feel heard in the first film?
"The score to this film is quite different in many ways from the last score. This score while employing much guitar and more contemporary elements, it is also much bigger and darker in tone and scope. This film has a much deeper story arc to it than the first, and I think fans will be quite pleased by both the film and the score. We’ve included a large choir for some of the more dramatic moments even singing in Russian to capture the dark Russian soul of Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke)."
Marvel Studios revealed that many of AC/DC’s hits will be featured in the film. Has this had any influence over how your score for Iron Man 2 will sound, or will it serve to juxtapose AC/DC’s catalog?
"The songs and score play two very different roles in the film. Although I’m a huge AC/DC fan, the songs did not influence to score."
Lately, many modern rock groups have been hired to score big blockbusters. What is your opinion of popular bands composing the soundtrack for movies? Is this a trend that you see occurring more or just a phase in the movie industry?
"I love the idea of major rock bands being involved in the making of film music. However, the craft of creating score differ greatly from the craft of songwriting. To really create a great film score, moods and action must many times be carefully highlighted and it is very helpful to have a good knowledge of the mechanics of film scoring. I feel the most successful blending of these two worlds can occur with the pairing of major band and major film composer, just like I did with Tom Morello. I would craft the piece of score and then bring Tom in to create and work on the guitar textures."
Illegal downloading has been an issue plaguing the music industry for the past decade. However, online piracy has become an issue for the movie industry as well, with online leaks becoming a constant problem for studios. Would you say that movie piracy has created any limitations for composing scores? Have studios shown more restriction towards budgeting major motion picture soundtracks?
Wow that’s a whole issue to answer these questions. Yes it is a big problem. I’m pretty old school on this one… I feel that artists/creators should be paid for their work. This is why copyright laws were enacted in the first place. The piracy problem has had little to do with the budgeting of film soundtracks."
For Full interview, head over to
Metal Insider